Eureka’s Ward 2 (left) is currently represented by Kati Moulton. Kenny Carswell (right) aims to unseat her. | Images via City of Eureka, Carswell.

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    In announcing his candidacy for Eureka’s Ward 2 City Council seat via press release this morning, Security National Project Manager Kenny Carswell describes himself as a lifelong Eureka resident who grew up in Ward 2. 

    This may well be true (or mostly true, as you’ll read below), but Carswell hasn’t been living in Ward 2 recently. According to property deed records on file with the Humboldt County Assessor’s Office, he just closed escrow on a house in Ward 2 a week ago today.

    Carswell re-registered to vote at his new address that very day, and while he was at it he changed his political party registration from Republican to “no party preference.”

    Carswell’s previous address was on the 4400 block of Little Fairfield Street, which may qualify as Eureka for the purposes of civic pride and the U.S. Postal Service, but it’s technically outside of city limits, which means that until his recent (or imminent?) relocation, Carswell was not eligible to vote in Eureka’s municipal elections, much less run for a seat on its City Council.

    A few of you may recall a post we published 39 days ago reporting on a local realtor who had a client with a very specific real estate wish list. They were looking to purchase a 3-bedroom, 2-bath house “in ward 2 of Eureka … as soon as possible!”

    Why such a specific location? we wondered. And what’s the rush? Might it be related to the fact that Ward 2 incumbent Kati Moulton is up for re-election this year and the candidate filing deadline is August 9th (now just four days away)?

    Under Eureka’s “True Ward” election system, approved by voters in 2016, candidates for City Council must live within the ward they wish to represent, and only residents of that ward get to cast votes for that particular seat.

    The house Carswell purchased last week fits this rather particular bill. It was described in an online listing as “a charming 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom Craftsman home,” and it is in Ward 2! Albeit just barely, and only because the boundary lines were moved three years ago to reflect updated population figures from the U.S. Census.

    As for his party registration, that may not technically matter, since Eureka’s City Council seats are non-partisan. But Republicans have not fared particularly well in Eureka’s recent electoral history, and Carswell is by no means the first to ditch the “R” shortly before running for office — see Mike Newman (who switched addresses and de-Republicaned himself in 2010) Chet Albin (who underwent an unconvincing political change of heart in 2013) and Virginia Bass (who left the GOP prior to her 2010 run for the Fourth District seat on the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors).

    Perhaps also worth mentioning: Carswell’s employer, Security National, has dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into both a political campaign and a series of lawsuits aimed at stymieing the City of Eureka’s current housing development plans, which involve the conversion of downtown parking lots into apartment buildings.

    Two voicemails left for Carswell today had not been returned by the time this post was published but we’ll update when we hear from him.

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